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2-AG, unlike anandamide (another endocannabinoid), is present at relatively high levels in the central nervous system; it is the most abundant molecular species of monoacylglycerol found in mouse and rat brain (~5-10 nmol/g tissue).[2][3] Detection of 2-AG in brain tissue is complicated by the relative ease of its isomerization to 1-AG during standard lipid extraction conditions. It has been found in maternal bovine as well as human milk.[4][5][6]

2-AG was discovered by Raphael Mechoulam and his student Shimon Ben-Shabat.[7] 2-AG was a known chemical compound but its occurrence in mammals and its affinity for the cannabinoid receptors were first described in 1994-1995. A research group at Teikyo University reported the affinity of 2-AG for the cannabinoid receptors in 1994-1995,[8][9] but the isolation of 2-AG in the canine gut was first reported in 1995 by the research group of Raphael Mechoulam at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which additionally characterized its pharmacological properties in vivo.[10] 2-Arachidonoylglycerol, next with Anandamide, was the second endocannabinoid discovered. The cannabinoid established the existence of a cannabinoid neuromodulatory system in the nervous system.[11]